Please read these Official Rules before entering the Cul de Sac Christmas Sweater Contest (“Contest”). By submitting an Entry, you (and, if a minor, your parent or legal guardian) acknowledge that you have read and agree to be bound by these Official Rules and by the decisions of Sponsor and the Judges, and that you satisfy all eligibility requirements. One Winner will receive The Complete Calvin and Hobbes and all four Finalists will each receive a Cul de Sac book signed by Richard Thompson.
1. NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY.
2. ELIGIBILITY. Open to legal residents of the following countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada (excluding the Province of Québec), China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States (the 50 states and D.C.) and the United Kingdom. ANY ENTRANT WHO IS A MINOR IN HIS/HER JURISDICTION OF RESIDENCE MUST HAVE PERMISSION OF A PARENT (OR BOTH PARENTS WHERE REQUIRED BY LAW) OR LEGAL GUARDIAN TO ENTER. Not open to employees, independent contractors or immediate family members (spouses, domestic partners, parents, grandparents, siblings, children, and grandchildren) or those living in the same household of employees or independent contractors of Andrews McMeel Universal (“Sponsor”) or any of its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, advisors, advertising or promotional agencies, or any other entity or person involved in the development, production, implementation, administration or fulfillment of the Contest (collectively, “Administrators”). Also not open to any Judges involved in the Contest or their immediate family members.
3. HOW TO ENTER: To enter, by the end of the Contest submission deadline submit a complete Entry (as described below in 3 and 4) to Sponsor at CuldeSacContest@amuniversal.com. The Contest submission period begins December 15th, 2009, at 12:01 a.m. (U.S. Eastern Standard Time) and ends December 18th, 2009, at 11:59 p.m. (U.S. Eastern Standard Time). Sponsor’s servers and clock will be deemed the official clock and entrant’s proof of submission does not constitute proof of Sponsor’s receipt. Sponsor, Judges and Administrators are not liable for any lost, late, misdirected, incomplete, illegible, garbled or delayed entries regardless of reason or person responsible. Entries will not be returned. Sponsor is collecting personal information solely to conduct/promote the Contest and contact the entrant (and parent or legal guardian, if necessary).
4. ENTRY REQUIREMENTS: A complete Entry must consist of a hi-res .jpeg photo of entrant and entrant’s name (first and last), age (if under 18), e-mail address and state of residence. Participants under 13 years of age also must submit the name and e-mail address of a parent or legal guardian. By submitting an Entry, each entrant (and, if a minor, his/her parent or legal guardian) represents and warrants that his/her Entry is a true representation of him/her and does not violate or infringe any copyright, trademark, privacy or publicity right, moral right, or other proprietary or intellectual property right of any person or entity. Limit one Entry per e-mail address and per entrant. In the event Sponsor receives more than one Entry from any entrant or e-mail address, the first Entry received by Sponsor from that entrant or e-mail address will be deemed the only Entry and any subsequent Entries will be void. Sponsor reserves the right in its sole and unfettered discretion to disqualify at any time any Entry containing obscene, offensive, pornographic or sexually explicit material, or libelous, disparaging or other inappropriate content or subject matter or that is otherwise not in compliance with these Official Rules (as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion). All timely received Entries determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion to comply with the requirements of 3 and 4 above will be deemed "Valid Entries.”
5. GRANT OF RIGHTS. By submitting an Entry, each entrant (and, if a minor, his/her parent or legal guardian) grants Sponsor and Administrators permission to use entrant’s photo, without charge, for any purpose in connection with this Contest, in any and all media now or hereafter devised. In so doing, entrant (and, if a minor, his/her parent or legal guardian) also grants to Sponsor the right to edit the formatting and display of the photo without seeking the approval of entrant or making any payment to entrant.
6. CONTEST JUDGING PROCESS
A. The Submission Period begins December 15th, 2009, at 12:01 a.m. (U.S. Eastern Standard Time) and ends December 18th, 2009, at 11:59 p.m. (U.S. Eastern Standard Time).
B. The Review Period will take place December 18th through December 21st, 2009. Andrews McMeel Universal’s designated associates and Richard Thompson (collectively, “Judges”) will review and judge the Entries based on strength of the Entry. Judges will select four Entries as Finalists.
C. Finalists will be notified on or about December 20th, 2009. Parents/legal guardians of Finalists under the age of 13 will be notified and given an opportunity to refuse child’s continued participation in the Contest, in which case, the Finalist will be disqualified and Judges will select another Finalist to replace the disqualified Finalist.
D. On December 21st, 2009, Finalists’ photos will be posted on blogs.gocomics.com and website visitors will begin voting for the final Winner. Each Finalist’s photo will be assigned an identification code for privacy purposes. Finalists’ names and personal information will not be released. Votes will stop being collected on December 23rd, 2009, at 11:59 p.m. (U.S. Eastern Standard Time). Voting is limited to one vote per day per person. Finalists are prohibited from directly or indirectly obtaining votes by any fraudulent or inappropriate means. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to exclude votes generated by script, macro or other automated means and to exclude votes that otherwise subvert the voting process.
E. The Winner will be selected on or about December 24th, 2009. The Winner will be chosen based on the total number of votes. In the event of a tie, Richard Thompson will pick the Winner. The Winner will be notified by e-mail. If the Winner is 18 years or older and with his/her permission, the Winner may be publicly identified.
7. PRIZES AND ODDS OF WINNING. The Winner will receive The Complete Calvin and Hobbes and a Cul de Sac book signed by Richard Thompson. The Complete Calvin and Hobbes has a verified retail value of $150. Each of the four Finalists, including the Winner, will receive a Cul de Sac book signed by Richard Thompson. The unsigned book has a verified retail value of $13.00. The verified retail value of the signed book cannot be determined because there is no established market for this prize. The Winner and other Finalists are responsible for any and all taxes, fees and other government assessments on the awarded prizes. The odds of winning cannot be determined because of the judging and voting components and because the total number of Valid Entries is not known.
8. ACCEPTANCE OF PRIZES: The Winner and other Finalists (or in the case of a minor, his/her parent or legal guardian) must complete, sign and return an Affidavit of Eligibility, Waiver of Liability and where permitted by law, Publicity Release, as directed to Sponsor within ten days after the date of first notice of award. Upon timely compliance, the prizes will be sent to the address identified by the Winner or Finalist or specified on the envelope of the Winner’s paper Entry. If a Finalist fails to timely comply with these requirements or is found ineligible after review of documents, then Sponsor may elect to not award the prize. If a Winner fails to timely comply with these requirements or is found ineligible after review, the Winner will be disqualified and Sponsor shall select an alternate Winner based on the next highest votes received pursuant to the voting process described in 6.D. above.
9. RELEASE OF LIABILITY: By entering, each entrant (or in the case of a minor, his/her parent or legal guardian) agrees to release and hold harmless Sponsor, Judges and Administrators from any and all losses, damages, claims and actions of any kind arising from this Contest (including, without limitation, claims based on publicity rights, defamation or invasion of privacy) or from acceptance of any awarded prize.
10. GOVERNING LAW: This contest shall be governed by the laws of the United States and the State of Missouri. Any claims regarding this contest must be brought in the State or Federal Courts in Jackson County, Missouri.
11. SPONSORS AND WINNERS LIST. The Sponsor is Andrews McMeel Universal, located at 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. For a list of the Finalists and the Winner, send an e-mail request to CuldeSacContest@amuniversal.com. Requests must be received by December 30th, 2009.
